RAJASTHAN: It was a special Daughter’s Day for 17-year-old Aarshi living in the Karbala area of Jaipur. Three years back her father, who works in a courier company, made her drop out of school due to eve-teasing. The girl had her dreams shattered. Today, she has hope: Ramganj police have taken charge of her education.
She filled out her 10th grade form in the police station and was promised that she would be taken care of and that her education expenses will be borne by the Ramganj police.
“I will be able to study from home with the help of the police. I have two younger sisters who also dropped out and will be able to study again,” says Aarshi. Like Aarshi, 30-year-old Parveen Bano also filled the 10th grade form in the police station.
A mother of two children, she too had to drop out as the school in the Idgah area had shut down. “When I heard that the police would help many like us, I asked my husband if I could enroll in the 10th grade...I want to move forward.”
The police’s initiative has come from Jaipur Commissionerate (North) DCP, Rajiv Pachar. The plan is to help girls and women in 17 police station areas to complete their education.
It has received a great response from the Muslim-dominated old city. This drive began on Sept 25, with 300 girls from the Ramganj area, 100 from Brahampuri, 100 from Subhash Chowk and Shastri Nagar applying on the first day.
Besides, 500 girls have applied from women’s police station areas. Pachar says there’s hardly any girl in Muslim- dominated Jaipur North who is educated till 12th grade.
“After initial schooling, most of them are made to help in household chores and take care of their younger siblings. We want such women to resume their studies”, said Pachar.
Pachar directed his team to identify such women needing help. Religious leaders were also taken into confidence along with beat constables to help girls study further and make at least five other women educated in their colony.
“The police will bear their fees in 17 police station areas. We will also ensure that they get study material.
They can also take help of teachers in the open school. We’ll also pay their exam fees,” says Pachar.
It was Yusuf Khan, who runs an NGO ‘Missile Man’s Mission,’ who first hit upon the idea. During the Covid-induced lockdown, he thought since everyone was working from home, it was an ideal time for those girls to resume their studies through distance learning.
The State Women’s Empowerment Department runs a ‘Shiksha Setu’ programme in which the girls are taught at home for 10th and 12th grades through open schools.
The enrolment fee is only Rs 85 and the rest of the expenses are borne by the government. Yusuf went to seek help from many police officers.
It was Pachar who came forward to initiate the program. “This wasn’t possible without the DCP’s help,” says Khan. Together they want to take the initiative right up to the exams. “We’ll arrange to drop the girls to their exam centres and bring them back to their homes,” says Khan.
An idea to help women resume their eduction
Yusuf Khan, who runs an NGO ‘Missile Man’s Mission,’ first hit upon the idea. Khan thought that the Covid lockdown was an ideal time for girls who had to leave their studies to resume it through distance learning.
The Women’s Empowerment Department runs a ‘Shiksha Setu’ programme where girls are taught at home through open schools. Khan sought help from police officers and DCP Rajiv Pachar came forward to initiate the program